10 Best Bill Murray Movies That You Should Watching Update 04/2024

Best Bill Murray Movies

Bill Murray is one of the most recognizable names in comedy, and he’s been doing it for decades. With his distinct personality on the big screen, Murray has created a niche for himself that can’t be replicated. Bill is truly a one-of-a-kind performer, from his masterful physical comedy to his perfectly timed and hysterical line delivery. It’s not uncommon for him to appear in films because of a strong relationship with a particular director or producer, or because he is able to steal the show regardless of the project. Since then, he has appeared in films like Dumb and Dumber To, Get Smart, The Grand Budapest Hotel, and Zombieland as himself, which is his best cameo.

Our list of Bill Murray films today includes everything from zany and wacky to introspective and deep. Watching him perform will make you laugh, cry, and reflect on what it means to be an actor in the first place. Since then, he’s gained notoriety as a man of many eccentricities, including showing up at random bars and parties just for the fun of it, buying four minor league baseball teams, studying philosophy and history on the spur of the moment in Paris, and even starting his own golf apparel company. It is for these and other reasons that we have gathered here today to honor Bill Murray’s achievements on the silver screen, so sit back and scroll down for the 10 best Bill Murray movies ever!

10. What About Bob? (1991)

What About Bob (1991)

“Who is Dr. Marvin, by the way?” Doctor Leo Marvin? ” A comedy from director Frank Oz comes What About Bob?, a film that is both hilarious and uncomfortable at the same time. When his psychotherapist, Dr. Leo Marvin (Richard Dreyfuss), takes a vacation, Bob tracks him down and asks for help. When Fay Marvin is included in the film, Julie Hagerty, who has always been a gem but creates a great balance between Murray and Dreyfuss that transcends the screen, is one of the best things about this film. Aykroyd dubbed Murray “The Murricane,” and he lived up to that moniker on the set of this film, which may be familiar to Bill Murray fans. Both Murray and Dreyfuss, and producer Laura Ziskin, were said to have had a tumultuous working relationship behind the scenes. For all its drama, this film is a true masterpiece in the Bill Murray canon, making it one of his best.

9. St. Vincent (2014)

St. Vincent has it all: pleasant and joyful moments, as well as serious and somber ones. Oliver (Jaeden Martell) and Vincent (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) are two of the most unlikely friends (Murray). Since Vincent is also in financial trouble, he offers to babysit Oliver while his mother Maggie (Melissa McCarthy) is juggling her career and raising her son. As long as Oliver is in Vincent’s care, he and the shy adolescent may have some fun in strip clubs, taverns, and racetracks. This picture is a delightful surprise for everyone involved, thanks to its abundance of innocent fun and terrific Murray line deliveries. There are excellent moments of humour and emotional depth in Bill Murray’s performance, but it almost feels like he has taken his character from Lost in Translation and made him even more miserable. Bill Murray fans will be able to appreciate both the highs and lows of our beloved actor no matter how low they fall.

8. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004)

Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou

Wes Anderson’s The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou is by far the most outlandish film on today’s list, even by Anderson’s own standards. Steve Zissou is a marine biologist, a documentary filmmaker, and the captain of a ship until he loses his mentor to the renowned jaguar shark. Bill Murray’s performance makes this one of his top 10 films, even if it isn’t on my list of best offbeat comedy or even best Wes Anderson movie. Steve Zissou, the character in the film, is intriguing to those who desire to dig a bit deeper into his backstory. When it comes to the character’s portrayal, Steve almost feels like he’s trying too hard to make up for lost time since he’s trying to make up for the time he spent focusing on the wrong things. During the second or eighth watching, it’s not impossible to observe the relentless pressures of his personal and professional life exerting themselves on Steve Zissou and shaping him into the character he is today. To put the metaphor to rest, Murray logged over 40 dives and earned his PADI certification.

7. Scrooged (1988)

Re-imagined Charles Dickens classic, Scrooged features Bill Murray as Scrooge in the lead role. Ebenezer Scrooge is now Frank Cross, a ruthless television executive in the late 1980s, an unusually young age for a television executive. How did he get there? You’ll soon realize that his upbringing was a life of solitary confinement in front of a television set. Unlike in many of his other comedic parts, in which he gets to play his worst self, in this picture, Murray is allowed to go all Murray. One of the best Christmas movies ever, this romping combination of humor and drama stars Karen Allen, his real-life brothers and a few of the best SNL cast members from the late 1980s. Bobcat Goldthwait’s humorously sad performance must also be mentioned, as he seems to have no luck at all. This was Murray’s first major part in four years after his disastrous and catastrophic failure in the love/war/drama The Razor’s Edge, which served as his comeback vehicle (1984). These four years, however, are when he spent time in Paris studying philosophy, history, and French.

6. Stripes (1981)

Stripes (1981)

Director Ivan Reitman, who directed some of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s best films and other National Lampoon favorites, brings Stripes, an unusual bootcamp story that makes the military look like a lot of fun. He gets Russell (Harold Ramis) to join the army when John (Murray) loses everything in one day: His job, apartment, car, and girlfriend all at once. As every Murray fan knows, Harold Ramis has worked with and been friends with Murray for a long time, but this is the only other occasion we’ve seen them onscreen together besides in the Ghostbusters movies. Another standout element of this picture is John Candy’s performance as Ox, who fits right in with the rest of the film’s colorful cast. That’s why I’m recommending this film, however the final 20 minutes or so kind of veer off the rails.

5. Rushmore (1998)

Rushmore is the filmmaking style-defining moment in Wes Anderson’s well-received follow-up to Bottle Rocket. High school student Max Fischer (Jason Schwartzmann) is infatuated with one of his instructors, Rosemary Cross (Olivia Williams). Herman Blume (Murray) is a classmate’s father and a friend of Max’s from high school, but the connection soon goes sour when Max discovers that Herman is dating Ms. Cross. Filmmaker Wes Anderson has revolutionized the career of young Schwartzmann, as well as a beautiful character brought to life by Murray, in this Wes Anderson-inspired film. For the second time this season, the pool scene and Max’s car brakes have Bill’s physical characteristics shining brighter than ever before. Bill was so desperate to be a part of this film that he offered to pay the additional $16,000 needed to cover the cost of the helicopter shot in the montage. Murray appeared in his first Wes Anderson picture, which is one of many.

4. Lost in Translation (2003)

Lost in Translation (2003)

If you’re looking for a fantastic Valentine’s Day movie for lost souls, you can only thank Sofia Coppola for her amazing direction. Filming a whiskey commercial in Tokyo, Bob Harris (Murray) meets Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson) in a hotel bar and has a personal relationship with the actress. As the two main characters strive to figure out what they’re experiencing, this dramedy expertly blends comedy, romance, and confusion. Best and most prominent topic is displacement, which brilliantly captures the experience of being in a stunningly beautiful, yet unfamiliar, location. A great drinking scene, where Bob shoots the whiskey commercial, best illustrates this. A noisy and quirky Japanese director forces Bob to rely on his gut instincts and do his best to please his immediate Japanese audience, thus he must compromise on quality in order to meet the director’s demands. As lovely as this film is, it also depicts a romantic and heartbreaking love tale between our two protagonists, who are pushed to confront their own mortality.

3. Caddyshack (1980)

Caddyshack is one of the funniest golf movies ever made because it features so many bizarre characters and plots that it’s difficult to pick a favorite. As a teenage caddy at a posh country club, Danny Noonan (Michael O’Keefe) tries to earn the scholarship he needs to pay for college, but instead receives an education in the parallels between life and golf. One of the best comedies of the 1980s, this picture is extremely wild and contains some of the funniest hilarious moments of all time. The’side characters’ portrayed by Chevy Chase, Rodney Dangerfield, and Bill Murray are what give this film its vitality, not the primary plot. As a groundskeeper at a country club, Bill becomes obsessed with finding a gopher that has ruined the entire course of the course on his own. One of Murray’s three film efforts in 1980 following his three-year run on SNL. Bill Murray filmed his Caddyshack scenes in just six days and improvised every line, making it possible for him to appear in three films in the same year. You can’t compete with that level of comedy prowess.

2. Ghostbusters (1984)

Ghostbusters (1984)

Reitman’s Ghostbusters is a must-see for fans of the 80s movie genre, as well as a standout comedy. Team of paranormal scientists, the Ghostbusters, have discovered a doorway to a dimension of evil that threatens to kill our world. They serve as an extermination business. Bill Murray, despite a stellar ensemble, nevertheless manages to shine in the limelight of absurdity and laughter. Seeing Bill Murray in this film for the first time is a wonderful introduction to the 80s film industry as well as the Murrinator. Whether you’re a kid, a teen, or an adult, there’s always something to learn from it. I’ll never forget the first time I saw Murray’s hilarious comedy acting when he was’slimed’ by the ghost they were searching for. It seemed like a completely new way of acting to me at the time, given that I hadn’t seen many movies. The role of Peter Venkman in Ghostbusters was not actually written for Bill Murray, but rather for the late and great John Belushi, who was a regular cast member on SNL. I think Bill Murray did a great job filling the shoes of such a legend himself when he took on this role.

1. Groundhog Day (1993)

It’s hard to disagree that Groundhog Day is the best Bill Murray film ever made, making it a movie you’ll want to watch again and again until you’re blue in the face. It’s Groundhog Day in Pennsylvania, and a brash and disillusioned TV weatherman goes to Punxsutawney to cover the annual ceremony. He ends up stuck there, repeating the same day every year and not knowing why or how. We get to see Murray’s character go through all five stages of grief as he begins to learn the truth about his situation and how he might escape it, and it’s a masterful performance by our star. His most tragic and dramatic behind-the-scenes story was this, despite it being his best film ever. Working with Harold Ramis, a longtime friend and collaborator, not only produced some of their best comedic work, but it also tested their friendship in a variety of creative ways. As a result of their visionary differences for the film (Ramis going for straight-up comedy whereas Murray desiring to tell a bleaker, darker tale), they clashed at every turn, causing Murray to show up late for filming and throw tantrums on set. For the next 21 years, the two of them did not speak to each other. Sadly, they only reunited at the end of Ramis’ life, but we can be grateful for the effort they put in to make their classic 80s comedies.